


maybe it's not so far to california

by basketofnovas (slashmarks)



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: (referenced only) - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canonical Character Death, Episode: s03e01 Anne, Episode: s03e03 Faith Hope & Trick, F/F, Fix-It, Getting Together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:33:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24549193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slashmarks/pseuds/basketofnovas
Summary: Faith catches up with Buffy a little bit sooner at the beginning of Season 3, before she leaves LA.
Relationships: Faith Lehane/Buffy Summers
Comments: 14
Kudos: 70
Collections: Fandom 5K 2020





	maybe it's not so far to california

**Author's Note:**

  * For [halfeatenmoon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfeatenmoon/gifts).



> I hope my recipient enjoys this! Title from "California" by Chris Pureka. 
> 
> Content note: References to Faith's childhood and a nongraphic sex scene between two teenagers, one ambiguously fifteen/sixteen and one seventeen.

The diner would've been right at home where Faith grew up. She read the words _Helen's Kitchen_ and frowned, feeling almost shy. 

She knew a few things about the other Slayer, mostly from eavesdropping: blond; heroic; lived at home with at least one parent and went to school, something the Council didn't seem to be happy about. She was named, absurdly, Buffy Summers. It made Faith think of pink hair bows and California beach babes and cheerleaders, and presumably _not_ the kind of cheerleaders Faith knew before dropping out, who got caught running a cocaine ring out of their lockers. If Buffy kept going to school even with the Slaying gig, even though her Watcher didn't like it, Faith figured she had to be way into the whole studying thing, too.

Maybe Faith was wrong, and this pull in her gut, the sense of belonging and longing mixed together that had pulled her three thousand miles, wasn't about the other Slayer at all. Maybe she was about to walk in on some demon nest or somebody carrying a magical artifact. 

She was pretty sure the other Slayer lived in some small town, Sunnyville or Sunshinedale or something else quaint as shit, not LA at all. But then, she was too close to where Buffy was supposed to be to really think it was a coincidence. Maybe she was on vacation or visiting family or something. Yeah, probably Faith was about to crash family dinner, somebody's birthday or theater night or whatever the hell it was functional families did. Faith wouldn't really know.

She didn't have to _talk_ to Buffy, not yet. She didn't have to do it at all. If she walked in and found Miss Perfect Slayer Sunshine with Mommy and Daddy and one and a half siblings, she could just get another table, overhear what she could, maybe follow them home and figure out how to get to Buffy on her own. She could give it some time and find out more, hoping Kakistos wouldn't catch up too fast. She could just go hop another freight train and leave.

Faith pushed open the door. Yeah, she had options, there was no need to panic.

She scanned the inside, but didn't see any customers worth looking at twice. There were no blond girls, no girls Faith's age at all. Maybe Buffy'd gone to the bathroom. Maybe she wasn't here. 

"Just me," Faith said to the bored looking hostess, let her lead the way to a table and pretended to read the menu. She was seated away from the window, thank Jesus. The thing about Kakistos was he had _minions_ , he had that fucking hacker vamp. He had been tracing Di's debit card until Faith finally worked out that was how they were finding her, took out a thousand in cash just before she got on a bus and stopped using it.

Then that feeling of _home-safety-belonging_ sharpened until it was like there was a hook in Faith's insides, like she was a fish who'd swallowed a line and it was gutting her from the inside out. She looked up straight into the eyes of a blond waitress with a name tag reading Anne.

Anne, Faith thought, and fought the urge to snort. Yeah, fucking right.

Buffy looked about as floored as Faith, so she must have felt the same way, but _unlike_ Faith she hadn't been looking for the end of that line. She hadn't followed the tug three thousand miles with an ancient vampire snapping at her heels. So she rallied and pretended it was nothing. "Are you ready?"

Sweet Jesus, yeah, I'm ready for you, Faith thought. The twin braids were ridiculous, and the checked collar of the uniform was worse, but hey, Faith had worn just as bad. That hair underneath the braids, and the lip gloss--

Calm down, girl, Faith told herself. Yeah, you're crushing like whoa, but this is probably just Slayer stuff. Ignore it.

"--Sorry, kinda wiped out," she said, miming a huge yawn, suddenly aware she'd spaced out staring at the other Slayer's lips. "Can I get-" She hastily looked at the menu. "Uh, a couple of burgers and some fries?" She had the cash on her for food right now, even if it wouldn't last long. Anyway if all went well she wouldn't need it much longer. If all went _badly_ , she'd probably be dead and she still wouldn't need it much longer.

The nice thing about life, Faith figured, was that it ended with death, and then you didn't have to worry about whatever problems you'd racked up in the meantime. It had worked that way for Mom, anyway.

A sudden mental image of Di's body - the moment when it had _become_ a body - intruded. Faith stared hard at the menu and blinked, trying to focus on the godawful checked plastic tablecloth.

"I'll get that started for you," Buffy said, writing the order down. She looked at the pad while she did it, so Faith had another chance to stare without getting caught, and wish the uniform was maybe a little sleazier so it showed some chest. Helen's Kitchen went for a wholesome look, apparently. Though the braids seemed to just be Buffy, none of the other waitresses had them.

Buffy went off to the kitchen and Faith stretched out in the booth to think, because wow, she had not seen that one coming.

So. Buffy, Miss Perfect Sunglen Slayer, _wasn't_ in Summer Valley or wherever, Slaying vampires and running errands for her Watcher in between bio tests. She was in LA waiting tables. She might have given up on the school thing and left town with her Watcher, but Faith knew very personally well that the Council didn't want its charges distracted with things like working for a living. They wouldn't pay her - too much independence - but they paid _Watchers_ , and they paid them more than enough to support their charges.

All of it came together to spell one picture, which was _runaway_. Buffy had taken off the same way Faith had, except Faith had done it before being called and Buffy had _after_.

Faith... really wasn't too sure how she felt about that.

On the one hand she was all for independence; sure, the Council had been a good deal for her, a fifteen year old dropout living with a series of terrible boyfriends after Mom overdosed. Di'd given her a roof over her head and money and clothes and food, and Faith had to figure Slaying wasn't that much more dangerous a gig than dealing or street walking. But if Buffy could hold down a normal job - which she obviously could - and an apartment - which she smelled like she could - then hey, good for her.

On the other hand, Faith had come three thousand miles hoping that the senior Slayer would be faster, stronger, _better_ than her, better than Di, and she'd be able to save Faith from Kakistos. (Not that she'd admit that out loud.) So if Buffy had taken off to get away from Slaying...

Well, if Faith stuck around her Kakistos would come after them both, and Buffy would have to deal. Maybe Faith just wouldn't mention that part. Not yet.

Buffy Sunshine brought Faith's burgers, and she chowed down, covering half the fries in the complimentary ketchup. (Ketchup is _totally_ a vegetable, Di, she thought, and pretended that the tears in her eyes were from biting her tongue.) All the while she watched Buffy, although she tried to be subtle about it - watched her juggle four plates at once, watched her smile at customers, watched her bite down in rage at whatever one of the men sitting alone had said to her and dig her fingers into her palm behind her back. 

Looking at her face, Faith kinda wanted to get up and put the guy through a window, herself, but she _really_ couldn't afford to get arrested right now. Kakistos would have no trouble picking her out of a cell.

She was just trying to figure out a conversation starter, debating trying to tail Buffy back to wherever she was sleeping first, when Buffy made it simpler. She was taking off her apron behind the counter, and Faith was going through her wallet so she could leave the change and take off in time to follow, when Buffy came back over.

"So, this is going to sound nuts," she said, pursing her glossy pink lips, "But do I know you from somewhere?"

"Uh, kind of," Faith said, and stuck a hand out. "I'm Faith."

"Faith?" Buffy said.

"The Vampire Slayer," Faith said. "Knockoff edition. I've heard _loads_ about you. Did you really use a rocket launcher one time?"

Buffy went white. "How did you find me?" she hissed. "Did you tell anyone I'm here?"

"No, no," Faith said. "I don't really have anyone to tell, anyway. Look, you know that feeling when I came in? The one that made you come over to talk to me?" It was just a guess, but Faith figured it was a sure one, and Buffy's lips made a little O shape to confirm it. " _That's_ how I found you."

"What do you mean, you don't have anyone to tell?" Buffy said. "The Council must have been the ones who told you about me."

"Well, that's the thing," Faith said, counting out bills. "I took off, too. You don't know a good hotel around here, do you? Clean squat?"

Buffy hesitated. For a second Faith thought she was going to turn around and walk - or run.

Then she said, "You can stay with me. Come on, I just got off. I've only got the one room, though."

"Sweet," Faith said, and handed the tip straight to her.

The apartment was on the small side, but it was clean. The appliances looked okay, too, and there was some furniture. "You did pretty good for yourself," Faith said, glancing around. It was nicer than the apartment she'd shared with her Mom, even if it was about half the size. "How long've you been here?"

"About three months," Buffy said, toying with one of those braids uncomfortably. "Listen, it was just--"

"It's okay, I get it," Faith said, although she had no clue what had been. "So what do you do for fun, after work? Clubbing, drinks? Movies?"

"Uh, mostly I just take more shifts," Buffy said, uncomfortably. "Cook, sometimes. Clean."

Okay, the surprisingly nice apartment was starting to make a little more sense.

"You don't do _anything_ else?" Faith thought about jumping on the bed, but she had been on the bus most of the day and she was pretty sure she smelled like it. Instead she went and looked out the window. "Seriously? Totally unsupervised in LA, no Watcher, no parents... Not even a boyfriend?"

Buffy, interestingly, flinched. "No," she said rapidly. "No boyfriend. No boys. Boys lead to - trouble."

O _kay_ , that was interesting, and Faith could definitely sympathize. "No arguments here," Faith said. "Let me think... Ronnie, deadbeat; Steve, klepto; Kenny, drummer."

Even her last point failed to get a smile or a laugh, or even a weird look. "Right," Buffy said, nodding several times. "Exactly."

Maybe she was gay, Faith thought. Okay, Faith _hoped_. 

"So, no boys," she said. "Just the two of us girls, and you're off work. Want to try the movies? I'll pay." Least she could do if Buffy was going to let her stay here, rent free, really.

Buffy let Faith steer her out of the apartment and turned out to know LA well enough to recommend a theater once they had wandered around for long enough on Faith's limited knowledge. Faith had no memory of what they watched later. She spent the whole time watching Buffy instead while she laughed or gasped or at one point actually _cried_ , all the sort of things Faith didn't think anyone really did at the movies. 

She was starting to wonder if this was really just the Slayer bond, and if it made any difference when there was probably nobody around who knew how to tell, when Buffy turned her head her way towards the end of the credits.

"Faith," she said, hesitant, glancing at how close Faith was.

"Not a boy, here," Faith said, and impulsively she leaned forward and kissed Buffy.

Buffy gasped against her and seemed like she might jerk away and flee, but Faith kept kissing her, and slowly Buffy relaxed into it. The lip gloss was peach flavored, Faith thought headily, and her lips were so damn soft--

Something about the light flickered. Instinct prompted Faith to bolt upright and turn.

There was a huge figure standing in the doorway out of the theater; a vampire with cloven hands.

"Slayer," Kakistos growled.

Faith froze. Her heart was pounding so loud she figured Kakistos would hear it across the theater - not that it mattered when he could already see them-

"Yeah, funny thing," Buffy said beside her, smiling, actually _smiling_ , like Kakistos was just an ordinary vampire, like they weren't dead. "Was it me you were looking for, or her? Because either way, you got lucky and found _two_." She was pulling a stake from her purse, swinging up over the back of her chair.

"Buffy, be _careful_ ," Faith said, voice coming out strangled. "His skin's too tough, stakes don't work on him--"

She couldn't say whether Buffy heard her or understood. The other Slayer was vaulting the last row of seats. Faith seriously considered turning and running the other way, except that her feet were frozen to the floor. And then she saw movement in the corner of her eyes: the other vamps, Kakistos's followers.

_Damn it_ , Faith thought, and then she was moving without any thought, pulling her own stake out. Buffy and Kakistos were fighting and she couldn't look, couldn't watch Buffy die, but she could at least take out these two vamps, right? Even the odds a little.

The fight went by in a blur. Faith was staking one of the followers, and the other was running - Kakistos was roaring, throwing Buffy into the wall of the theater - Buffy saying, "Faith, _come on_ ," and hauling on her hand, and the two of them running from the theater into the alley--

Kakistos was the strongest vampire Faith had ever fought, if not the fastest. Faith had fought him two on one before. Her Watcher had been there, after all. Di had been strong and smart and known how to fight, had trained for years, but--

But she wasn't another Slayer.

If Faith had thought the pull of Buffy, her awareness of the other Slayer, was strong before, it was nothing compared to fighting together. She knew when Buffy moved, knew when she _breathed_ , knew where Buffy would be next before she even started to move. It was exhilaration beyond anything Faith had ever felt before fighting.

Or maybe that was just that she was still convinced she was about to die.

Anyway. They got into the alley, and Kakistos came after them, and the alley turned into a bottle neck, a death trap with a dead end and a rusty fire escape ending three stories up, with the bottom flight of stairs collapsed in a rusty heap at the end of the alley: a trap, Kakistos must have chased them there on purpose. Faith was feeling mildly guilty about dragging Buffy in to die with her at this point - she'd been hoping for that rocket launcher she'd heard about or something, not that Buffy would be just as unprepared as her and no better armed - when Buffy's eyes jumped to the side hard, and she grinned.

"What the hell?" Faith gasped, hitting the ground after another horrible blow. Her stake slipped from her fingers and rolled, and she felt some last gasp of hope die, like it hadn't been totally useless against Kakistos anyway.

"Behind you!" Buffy said, rolling to dodge Kakistos herself and turning her springing jump upward into a kick. Faith turned, expecting more enemies, expecting reinforcements - she didn't know.

What she found was a stack of wood from a building under renovation, topped with a two by four: a bigger stake.

Faith hauled herself to her knees, still winded, and armed herself. 

They got back to the apartment, bleeding and dirty. Faith kept laughing, jittery and ecstatic all together. Buffy had this weird soft glow about her. It wasn't wild like Faith was in relief, but - there had been something missing from her when Faith found her, and something tired and worn out, and now it was back, or better, or whatever. The Slaying, maybe.

"Remind me _not_ to go to the movies with you again," Buffy said, but she held the apartment door open, so Faith figured she wasn't too mad.

"What, are you telling me that wasn't fun, B?" Faith fluttered her eyelashes and laughed again, flopping into a chair. "God, I am _starved_."

"What did you call me?" Buffy asked. She went to sit on the bed, then stopped, looking at her dirt-streaked pants with dismay. "I hope this comes off..."

"So we'll go shopping tomorrow," Faith said. "Come on, B, we didn't die! We should celebrate!"

"Faith," Buffy said, looking at her. "Faith, what happened? He was looking for you."

"He was looking for me," Faith said, and the laughter was starting to be more like hysterical than giddy, and she couldn't stop. "He was looking for me - he swore he'd kill me. You saw his eye? I did that, I did it in Boston. He killed my Watcher," Faith said, and then the laughter turned into tears, and Buffy was there, kneeling in front of her, holding her hands. "He killed her, and I watched, and I _ran_."

There was road rash on Buffy's cheek and arm. Kakistos had thrown her into the pavement, as hard as a speeding car. Faith reached out to touch it, barely aware of Buffy's flinch, wondering. That was the worst Kakistos had done to Buffy.

"You didn't die," Buffy said. "That's the first rule of Slaying. Faith, earlier, before he showed up--"

Which was a timely reminder and something Faith would _way_ rather do than cry and talk about feelings, so she hauled Buffy up by her hands and kissed her - the other side of her mouth, away from the road rash. Then Buffy turned her head into Faith and they were making out, pressed together. Faith could taste blood and sweat and it tasted so good, so fucking good, because it meant they were _alive_.

They stumbled up from the chair at some point and into the bed - Buffy had apparently forgotten about the dirt - and it was a rush to disentangle their ripped, dirty clothing from their bodies, a rush to fit together on the bed. Buffy obviously hadn't been with a girl before, but Faith showed her what to do and she picked it up readily. 

It was good, so good - Faith could still feel Buffy while she moved, _before_ she moved, and it was like being in combat again together but with no vampires, no fear, nothing in the way between them, just two Slayers, mind to mind and body to body. 

After they lay, panting and exhausted from the fight and the sex. Faith was wondering whether Buffy would let her eat for free in return for enough oral sex or whether she was going to have to get a job eventually, but in a dazed, unconcerned way, because Buffy kept petting her hair and it was making it hard to think about anything else. 

"We should do laundry," Buffy said, a weird note in her voice.

"Laundry?" Faith said, blurrily. "Time like this, and you're thinking about _laundry_?"

"We got dirt all over the sheets," Buffy said, picking up speed as she went, "They're white, and if that dries I'll never get it out - and my clothes - at least it wasn't my uniform but--"

"This is a weird version of the straight girl freak out," Faith said, sitting up and squinting. There was a heavy sinking feeling in her chest. No matter how many times it happened, she never quite managed to stop _hoping_. "Look, it's okay, I won't mention it, alright? You're straight, it was a one time thing, the Slaying hyped you up, I get it." She fought not to roll her eyes.

"What?" Buffy said, sounding completely distracted. "I mean, yes. Straight! That is a thing that I am, or was, or--"

"Okay, if it's _not_ that, what is it?" Faith said, mystified.

"You're _really_ Faith, the Vampire Slayer?" Buffy said, almost pleading. "You're not - going to vamp out, or try to kill me, or say something about how I'm bad in bed? This isn't the part where I find out Kakistos turned you after he killed your Watcher and this was all a trap?"

" _What_?" Faith said. "No, I mean, what the fuck?"

"You're definitely not evil."

"Not evil," Faith agreed, putting her hands up and wondering why no one had mentioned to her that the other Slayer was _crazy_.

"The last one turned evil," Buffy said, and made a grab that Faith failed to dodge, but it didn't matter because Buffy was only clinging to her shoulders, so hard Faith was pretty sure she'd leave marks, face gone tight with something she was trying not to show.

"Hey," Faith said, trying to make her voice soft, pretending she knew how to comfort someone. "Hey, it's okay. I'm really Faith, the Vampire Slayer. I didn't - I'm sorry I lied about my Watcher. I was scared you wouldn't want to help me. I'm not evil, promise. What happened before?"

"I slept with Angel," Buffy said, voice soft and distant. "He was my boyfriend. And he was a vampire, but - but good." She was apparently a little more together than she sounded, because when Faith made a skeptical noise her eyes refocused. "There was a curse," she said. "The family of one of his victims cursed him so that he would regain his soul. But there was a - a clause, if he managed to experience true happiness he would lose it again, and I didn't _know_..."

"Hang on," Faith said, trying to put this together. "So - you did the deed with your boyfriend the good vampire, and it made him so happy that this curse made him lose his soul again?"

"And he turned evil," Buffy said, and nodded several times in rapid succession. "And he killed Jenny Calendar - my Watcher's girlfriend - and he tried to kill my friends, and to destroy the world, and I - I killed him. With a sword."

Okay, _wow_ , Faith was never going to get to complain about Steve the compulsive thief around Buffy, apparently. That story made most of her _mother's_ boyfriends look like nice guys. "Well, he was trying to kill you, wasn't he?" she said, taking a wild stab at what was bothering Buffy. "I mean, I'm sure - good Angel - wouldn't want you to leave him walking around."

And then suddenly she had an armful of crying, blond Slayer, and she was trying hard not to think too much about Buffy's tits mashed up against her and the heavy panting in her ear that sounded almost like sex if she could tune out the crying, until Buffy said, "He was - he was himself, again. Willow - she's my friend, she's studying magic - she did a spell to give him his soul back, and it worked. But it was too late, the portal was already open, and I could only - could only close it by killing him. So I kissed him. And I put a sword through him, and he died."

All thoughts of taking round two were suddenly gone from Faith's mind.

They did eventually end up getting up and doing laundry, although they had to take a shower and find new clothes out of Buffy's wardrobe before they could pile up the salvageable filthy ones and the bedding and take it down to the laundromat. By then it was pretty late and the place was empty. Faith jimmied the door to lock it once they were inside, reasoning that Buffy was still breaking into sniffles every few minutes and they _so_ did not need to share it.

"It's supposed to be open," Buffy said, just when Faith thought she hadn't noticed. "What if someone else needs to use it?"

"They can probably wait an hour for their dire--" Faith checked the clock, "Two AM laundry needs."

"Are you _sure_ you're not evil?" Buffy said, solemn, and Faith actually took a minute to realize Buffy was cracking a joke. They laughed probably way harder than it deserved. After the last day they needed it.

So they got the laundry done. Buffy firmly rejected Faith's offer to open up the quarter machine and cover their laundry-related expenses with a scandalized look that said to Faith that maybe Di hadn't been totally wrong about Miss California being a goody two shoes. 

Faith was just going back to her earlier calculations for the future when Buffy, sitting on top of one of the washing machines and staring into space, said, "What am I going to do?"

"Do?" Faith said, blankly. "Uh, we've got like ten more minutes on the washers?"

"No, I mean..." Buffy stared at her hands. "After I killed Angel, I took off. I couldn't face anyone. I didn't want to be Buffy anymore."

"That would explain the name tag, B," Faith said. "I hate to tell you this, but you're way more of a Buffy than an Anne."

"Anne's my middle name," Buffy said. "I haven't really thought about anyone else since... But when I was telling you about Willow, earlier, I realized I missed her. And Giles, and Xander, and my mom."

"Can't really relate, to tell you the truth, but I can see why," Faith said. _She'd_ definitely never had friends in school who would do magic ensouling curses for her. Even if this Willow chick had been late about it.

"What about your parents?" Buffy said, apparently realizing at that moment that Faith had only mentioned her Watcher. "I mean - do you have parents? I think Kendra was a ward of the Council."

"What, like, _forever_?" Faith said, horrible visions of a six year-old her dressed in tweed and studying demonology out of huge books in her mind's eye. That might actually have been worse than Mom. Then the rest of Buffy's statement connected. "Was Kendra..."

"The Slayer before you, yeah," Buffy said. "I drowned - for a few minutes - and she was called."

"What happened to her?" Faith asked. If she'd had to eavesdrop to hear anything but slim details about Buffy, Di had been totally silent on the subject of Previous Slayers, Deceased.

"She was killed by Drusilla, last year," Buffy said. "I guess you know when it was, I mean. Drusilla's a vampire, she - she was turned by Angel, actually, when he was evil."

Okay, subject change time. "Yeah, my parents aren't in the picture, but it wasn't that long ago," Faith said. "Mom finally OD'd like... six months before I was called? No idea about Dad, he was never in the picture and she'd tell me something different every time I asked. Eventually I figured she either didn't know who it was or just didn't want to think about it." 

"Oh my god," Buffy said. "That's terrible."

Faith shrugged. "That's life," she said. "Anyway, I was living in a squat - I dropped out to try to cover the rent, but not that many places want to hire a kid that age, and I got evicted - when Di found me, so... Deal seemed pretty good then. And Di was great, kind of stuffy, but..." Her throat got tight, and Faith dropped off, swallowing hard.

"I'm glad you had her," Buffy said, sounding suspiciously nostalgic. "At least for a while."

"Yeah." Faith glanced at the washers. "Looks like they're about to be done." Thank god. She waited until they'd put everything in the dryers and they were _hopefully_ done with that subject to say, "So you were saying about doing something, B?"

"Right. I guess..." Buffy swallowed a couple times, looked at her hands, looked at the timers on the dryers, as though they hadn't _just_ started. "I guess I should probably go home. Everyone must be worried sick."

Oh, well, Faith thought, she knew it was too good to be true. "I guess," she said. "So I guess we're grabbing bus tickets tomorrow? Where _do_ you live, anyway?"

"Sunnydale," Buffy said. "Scenic hellmouth, lots of demons, highest murder rate in the country. You'll like it."

"Already sounds like home."

The bus was fine. They couldn't talk about anything weird or personal with tons of people crowded around them, so they camped out on a seat together and compared notes on food, makeup brands - Buffy had more money but Faith had more shoplifting skills, so they had pretty comparable collections - and trouble they'd gotten into at school. After Buffy admitted to being expelled for burning down a gym (and Faith's record was kind of a mess but she'd never committed _arson_ ) people on the closest seats started moving away and they changed topics in a hurry. 

As they got into Sunnydale Buffy got tenser and tenser, and once they were _in_ Sunnydale and headed into a suspiciously white picketed, middle class area Faith matched her more and more. "What'd you say your mom does again?" Faith asked.

"Uh, she has an art gallery," Buffy said, sounding distracted. "You know, for tourists and rich people."

Well, at least art gallery meant Mrs. Summers might be a hippy instead of a Stepford wife. Faith realized she hadn't asked about Buffy's dad yet, and decided to hold off. Men were rarely good news in her experience.

They got up to the door and Buffy just froze, staring at that last step like it was a portal to hell. Maybe it was; home could be pretty fucking bad. "Last chance to bail?" Faith said, and when Buffy shook her head, lips pressed together hard, Faith leaned around her and knocked.

"Hey," Buffy hissed, but they didn't have time to argue before it opened.

Mrs. Summers was surprisingly pretty and young, or maybe just showing her years way less than Mom had, and a darker blond than Buffy. She was staring in a way that might have meant anything, and Faith started bracing to punch her or drag Buffy back or maybe just have the door slammed in their faces, when she stepped forward and all of a sudden she and Buffy were hugging.

Okay. Probably a good sign? 

"--So who's this?" Mrs. Summers said, several minutes later. She didn't seem to want to let go of Buffy, but Buffy was clinging back to her hand, so that might be okay. Probably it was okay?

"Faith, this is my mom," Buffy said. "Mom, this is - Faith."

"Hi," Faith said, shaking Mrs. Summers's hand and wishing she'd thought to change into something with less cleavage and maybe, like, pink bows or something to match the neighborhood. "I'm a Slayer, like Buffy."

"Oh! Oh, I didn't realize there were more of you..." Mrs. Summers trailed off awkwardly, glancing between them.

"Faith's sort of new," Buffy said, which suggested that she had _not_ told her mother how Slayers were called. "I hope you're alright with her staying with us. A vampire killed her Watcher, and her parents aren't - around." Succinct, Faith thought, although it might have been nice to be consulted.

Then all of her thoughts were steamrollered out of her head at once because Buffy kept going, "Faith's - my girlfriend, actually. Too."

"Oh!" Mrs. Summers said, and opened her mouth, and closed it again.

Okay, points for not doing the straight girl freak out, Faith thought, hope we don't get kicked right back _out_ after you quit your job...

"She's actually the reason I came back now," Buffy finished, which was _impressively_ manipulative.

"In that case, I'm so glad to have you," Mrs. Summers said, apparently rallying. "Please, both of you come in, I was just making lunch."

Faith was enjoying the unlimited quantities of spaghetti and not having to calculate whether she should pay for it or try to run out on the check, not really paying much attention to the rebonding talk, when a single sentence penetrated her head: Buffy saying, "--so if we could talk to Principal Snyder about getting Faith enrolled in school - I'm sure Giles can call someone about her ID--"

Oh, crap.


End file.
